Grey Mask (21 page)

She turned and hid her face on Charles Moray’s dusty coat.

Part of a letter from Miss Margot Standing to her friend Stephanie:

… I’ll tell you all about it at Christmas. We’ll have a lovely time. And you shall see Archie. We’re not engaged, because Papa says I’m not old enough to be engaged, and Archie says so too. Archie’s frightfully in love with me—at least he won’t say he is, but I’m sure he is. And Papa likes him most frightfully. I think I shall have a sapphire ring. But I don’t want to be married for simply ages.

Margaret and Charles are going to be married next week. I would love to be Margaret’s bridesmaid, but she isn’t going to have any because of her stepfather. He was a nice little man, and I expect she’s frightfully sorry about it. He was drowned in an aeroplane, so she and Charles aren’t really going to have a wedding—they’re just going to be married. I call it frightfully dull…

THE END

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